Second Chances
by Traitor of All Traitors
Summary: Set after the last episode, but where all that was becomes undone. Those that suffered return to life, talismans are removed, and an entire megacity is restored of its losses. We all know of the fate of any Witchblade wielder, but suppose that fate was undone and one of the wielders was allowed to survive?


Creation began on 11-14-10

Creation ended on 12-31-17

Witchblade

Second Chances

A/N: I was working on my story _My Special Keeper_ , looking at my third DVD of the _Witchblade_ anime, and looking at some other fanfiction when this just came to mind. I've already seen eighteen episodes of the cartoon show, and it becomes addictive the more I think about it. I even acquired the _Witchblade: Compendium_ books that have higher prices than the smaller ones I'm used to. Only three Witchblade wielders, _Top Cow's_ current wielder Sara Pezzini, their former wielder Danielle Baptiste, and the anime's Masane Amaha, have entranced me, but if I had to choose only one of them, I might have to settle for Ms. Amaha for now. She is attractive, rather large, fun to look at, and cares greatly for her daughter, Rihoko. Once I get to the last episode, I may be able to find a great way to write how this story shall end. I feel terrible about what the _Wikipedia_ site says happened to Masane at the end. If anything, this might be just as much fun as my _Kannazuki no Miko_ piece. Because I love to use Brother Correction to right wrongs done to many. In the words of Johnny Blaze from the _Ghost Rider_ film, _"You deserve a second chance."_ Let's see if we can give one of the women scarred by the Witchblade a second chance.

It was never easy for him to see people suffer in ways that weren't considered normal. It never is. But the woman's demise was just going overboard. Even if it was self-sacrifice and not suicide to protect her daughter from the fate that she'd been scarred with.

 _That damn creature,_ he thought, referring to the gauntlet, not the woman. _It has existed since the very beginning of humanity's existence, born from the sexual truce between the primal forces of order and chaos, which isn't doing a thing to settle anything but cause more pain. Well, we'll have none of that continuing. It ends now. The Balance must be dealt with_ _…but in a proper way, and the lives lost must be renewed for the better._

He got up from his throne of stone and wood and vanished from his domain. To him, this was another mistake that had to be corrected with the most minimum of negative reactions. And a swell of pity that he hadn't found out about this until the very last minute; it made his drive to restore harmony within each universe a heavier burden for his timeless existence. But no matter what, it was his purpose, his reason for being, not his curse, his karma to be served out. And more, it was for the little girl who deserved her mother.

-x-

The stars shone brightly in the aftermath of the massive battle between the I-Weapons, Neo-Gene/Dual Cloneblade-wielding Sisters and Masane Amaha, even as the sun was starting to rise. Tokyo Tower had been erased, literally, from the present, along with every remaining I-Weapon left to fight. Rihoko Amaha and Reiji Takayama were left standing at the sight of where they saw Masane leave in a burst of light, not only to protect the city, but to ensure her daughter would have a life untainted by the Witchblade's curse. All that was left of Masane was the seashell given to her by Rihoko, which had returned to said child at the end.

"Mom…" Riko said, sadness welling up in her heart.

"Uh, excuse me!" Both she and Takayama looked down at the water and saw a young man, with dark flesh and a set of eyes that could almost show you Heaven, dragging something out of the water and onto the ground. "Is this woman someone you know?"

Riko looked down at the woman and couldn't believe her eyes! It was Masane, exactly as she was before she left to fight the I-Weapons.

"Mom?" She said, and ran down whichever way she could to get down to where the man and her mother were at. "Mommy!"

Hearing her daughter's voice, Masane's fluttered as she came to. She found that, to her greatest surprise, she was alive and well, and her right arm, which held the Witchblade bracelet, was relieved of the artifact that was killing her; even the strange mark from before the discovery of the Witchblade was no longer there. How was she still alive? What became of the Witchblade? And who was this man that had dragged her out of the water?

"I'm…alive?" Masane wondered, confused at how she was still among the living; the last thing she remembered was seeing Riko watching her fade away from the world as she destroyed all the remaining I-Weapons along with Tokyo Tower.

Takayama looked down at the young man and noticed that his right arm flaunted the very artifact that had almost taken Masane's life: The Witchblade, in its gauntlet form prior to the Great Quake. Somehow, he was wearing it and was unaffected by it, as though it were just for show.

"Who…are you?" He asked him. "And why are wearing the Witchblade?"

The young man looked at his wrist and responded, "I'm simply a person that saw what happened last night and had to act before the damage became irreversible for those that could care less for the women this creature scars without remorse."

"Creature?"

"Yes. The Witchblade is a sentient artifact, and one that has lost its compassion."

Riko looked at the young man and asked, "Did you save my Mom, mister?"

He looked down at the six-year-old and answered, "I saved her. She's very lucky; your love for her wouldn't allow her to leave you, and that proved to be more powerful than even the Witchblade itself. It was you that kept her alive, little miss."

Riko looked at the gauntlet on his arm, the Witchblade, wondering what he intended to do with it now that it was off her mother's arm.

"What are you going to do with that?" She asked him, pointing to said gauntlet.

He answered, "Restore its lost sense of morality…and make it so that it doesn't harm another soul for the rest of its existence. Ever since its previous wielder past on, and when it got into the possession of people that sought it out for its power, the Witchblade became poorly corrupted. Its creators would probably be just as disappointed in it as I am to know that it behaves in such a fashion that is not so different from a parasitic organism."

"Its creators?" Takayama asked. "You mean…you know who created the Witchblade?"

"Hmm. The Witchblade was, in a supernatural way, born, rather than created, by two universal forces that have existed since beginning-less time. It is a male aspect that must have a female as its host, its opposite. The force that acts as its mother has been the primordial existence known simply as the Angelus, the Witchblade's parent which represents light and order in the universe. Its father is the Darkness, a force of darkness and chaos. Balance and imbalance, Yin and Yang, right and wrong. They are put on even ground due to their child's existence, which was the result of a truce made between them, though it has done very little to settle what is impossible to settle between them. They are ancient and eternal enemies that can never be swayed to cease their feud, and the Witchblade is merely a subtle tie-breaker…that can no longer do anything right due its corruption. Therefore; it must be dealt with, but not in the manner of destroying it. I shall prevent its continued usage of women as though they were cattle and end its reign of pain and death. Too many have suffered because of it. _'Sought by the greed of men since the dawn of humankind, but bestowed only upon the women whose fate it forever scars. Is it the righteous sword of God…or the hand of the Devil himself?'_ That was what has been said numerous times in the past…by all that knew of the Witchblade, the Balance, Digitabulum Magae, Lann Cailleach, la Lame de Sorcière and every other name it has or had gone by."

"It's gone by all those names?" Takayama asked.

"Each and every one, as it's been part of many different cultures. The Egyptians, Greeks, Asians and Romans, not just the Japanese. Wherever it winds up, it left its existence woven into the culture's history, and its history became a myth…a fairy tale…a legend."

"So, that thing on your arm…is bad, mister?" Riko asked, more curious about the gauntlet that nearly took her mother from her.

"Only half the time, little miss," he told her, "but neither is it good all the time. It has done many wrongs that I can't even chalk up as self-preservation, whatever is necessary to protect oneself."

"Why?"

"Because three of some of the last women to have ever worn it…were abandoned by it, just as it had done to others over the ages."

"Abandoned?" Masane, once she was well-rested enough to stand on her own, asked the mysterious man that had pulled her out of the water.

"The first of the known three was Joan of Arc, who fought many battles and won due to the power the Witchblade afforded her…but in her last battle, it came off her hand. The stories of her say that her sword just came to life in her battles. The people that didn't know the whole story of her dared not question it, for if they had, they'd learn that it was no accident that a weapon from her arsenal was missing when she lost the fight. One of the Witchblade's greatest faults, that it does all the time in every other generation, regardless of the situation that it's in, is that it abandons its chosen wielder in her time of greatest need."

"Was…it abandoning her the reason she was…" Takayama tried to ask, having learned the story of Joan of Arc himself, never realizing the whole reason to why she had been burned at the stake.

"Yes. It caused her end, and did so on purpose. The second known wielder it abandoned was a New York City homicide detective that dealt with many threats, most of which were not of the mortal world, until she gave it to its new bearer, only to have fate and disorder make her take it back from the girl while under the influence of a darkness that nearly left her soul wasted if it weren't for the help of the Angelus taking the former bearer as a medium and purging the darkness from her, setting her free. Then, several short years later, she was abandoned, never to see it again. Unlike Joan of Arc, however, she didn't die; the Witchblade just left her alone when it no longer had a reason to be with her."

"And…who was the third?" Riko asked.

"A Japanese teen…whose hidden heritage became her ruination. I've yet to find her. For her, the Witchblade was the hand of the Devil, and it took the wrath of a swordsman that was one of her best friends to free her from that hand before she left a great devastation. The only odd thing about her case with the Witchblade was that it wound up on her left wrist, not her right, which makes me suspect that the gauntlet purposely changed its structure from a right-handed guantlet to a left-handed one to avoid being found for several years until it decided to ensnare a new bearer, as opposed to choosing one. Like the New York detective, her life was also spared, but all she has to look forward to is a loss of the will to live. It was her and Joan's involvement with the Witchblade that resulted in it going off the path it was meant for…and causing pain and death to those around it."

Riko looked at her mom and held onto her tightly; the gauntlet had caused her pain and nearly caused Masane an early death when she was still at the age to need her in her life. She didn't want it taking her again for as long as she lived.

Masane held onto Riko just as tightly. Ever since she was informed that the Witchblade would probably go after her daughter once it was done with her, she had sworn to prevent it from doing so by taking it to the fiery chasms of Hell with her. Now that this man had it and was making sure it stayed on his wrist (she could see his flesh sizzling, as though the nigh-bone-like structure of the gauntlet became stuck on his hand), she wondered what was in store for both of them.

"Oh, where are my manners?" The man questioned himself, and extended his left hand. "I am Brother Correction, a spiritual relative of all that carry souls."

Masane, seeing as he wasn't a threat to any of them, shook his hand.

"Masane Amaha," she greeted. "This is my daughter, Riko. My boss, Reiji Takayama."

"Brother Correction?" Takayama asked him.

"It does not relate to my skin tone, which isn't even my true self. This…is a borrowed form which I had attained permission to use from a young man in his early-twenties that still looked like he was in his late-teens. My name revolves around the fact that, in the universal flow of existence, all souls are related. We are all one in the same, yet we live as if we were divided. We've died over one-thousand times and are, eventually, reborn over one-thousand-one. I used to be a demigod, but after multiple lifetimes, multiple generations of fixing past mistakes, I've earned my rights to do greater good."

"So…you mean to say that…you're God himself?" Masane asked, never disbelieving in religion, but never seeing a god face-to-face made it hard to accept.

"No, Ms. Amaha, I am not God. I am a god. There has been more than one god in existence. Gods of justice, love, fortune, faith, even deus de puissance." Brother Correction explained.

"Gods of power?" Takayama asked, knowing some French and Latin.

"That's right, and unlike those gods, who have just as much power as I do, I strive to undo great problems when I become aware of them. When I discovered what the Witchblade had done, I could've easily undid the damage, but that would've caused much of the good that happened between each of you to become nonexistent. Restoring things after a casualty are usually a better result, like how I've restored Tokyo to the way it was prior to the Great Quake while leaving such new places unchanged. Look at Tokyo Tower."

They looked behind him, and were left in awe. What Masane had unintentionally removed from existence, Brother Correction had restored; there was no water where land had originally resided. Instead, the land that was shattered was back where it had been before the quake.

"You…you did all of that, and you were just talking to us?" Riko asked, amazed.

"I answer most prayers, and I do only what is right for the good people. For the innocent, I always believe in the power of what many call a second chance. Opportunities where the most unfortunate can turn their lives around, undo their flaws and achieve a happiness that they didn't know they could to begin with. Even now, lives that were lost to the quake are being restored, lives taken by the X-Cons, I-Weapons and Cloneblades are being brought back. Time is never as simple as a train track or a highway road; it is fluid, flexible, bendable, reversible. I can manipulate it in any way that I choose, as it is one of the powers I have at my disposal for correcting mistakes. Even the lives lost to simply wearing the Cloneblades will be brought back, for they have a right to a second chance to turn their lives around for the better."

"Everyone that died?" Masane and Takayama asked.

"Everyone," he told them. "And I believe that at the end of today, you three will be entitled to well-earned peace once this (raising his right arm up) is gone."

-x-

People were returning to their homes, finding them almost exactly as they were the day before, but also seeing that many places in Tokyo that were submerged in the water after the Great Quake were restored, with people that should've been lost to the quake, but were also up and about. Only the places that were built after the quake were unchanged, which included the Natsuki Building _,_ which survived the devastation. It was like a miracle or an act of the gods themselves.

-x-

"Before I go, this is for you, Ms. Amaha," Brother Correction told Masane, holding up a small bracelet. "I guess you could say this is a Shin Blade."

Unlike the Witchblade's bracelet form, this bracelet was rather simple. It was a simple, featureless silver band with Masane's name engraved upon it. Nothing unusual or mysterious about it at all. But Masane, due to her experience with the Witchblade and what it was capable of, was suspicious.

"I can see your suspicion," he expressed. "I assure you, this is absolutely nothing like the Witchblade. There's no price to pay for wearing it, and it doesn't stay on your arm for good."

Then, as if to just demonstrate his honesty, the bracelet disappeared from his hold…and appeared on Masane's arm.

"Go ahead," he told her. "Take it off."

Masane did just that, relieved that the bracelet didn't stick to her skin.

"But I don't understand," she responded. "Just what is it?"

"I guess one way of putting it is the Shin Blade is a variation of the Witchblade that only does whatever its sole owner requires of it to do. In this case, that's you, the sole owner. When not in use, it's just a regular bracelet. Regular armor when desired, swords, shields, even a Taser if necessary. But only should you desire it."

They stood outside of _Marry's Gallery_ where everyone they knew was present.

Brother Correction decided to part ways with them when Masane stopped him from disappearing into thin air.

"Will we see you again?" She asked him.

"Maybe," he answered. "Have faith. For now, just live and do right by your daughter."

He walked down the street; he could spare a few hours of walking around the streets of Tokyo to access the recovery and revival of the colossal city made up of different wards and the people that lived in it.

"Do you think we'll see him again, Mommy?" Rihoko asked Masane.

"Maybe, dear," she answered. "Someday."

-x-

Opening her eyes, Reina Soho found herself in a park, wrapped in confusion.

"I'm alive?" She questioned.

She rose up and saw someone to her left, seeing that it was Maria, albeit younger, almost around Rihoko's age, exactly as she was prior to her own death. Yet, she knew it was her. In her right hand was a note that was addressed to her from someone named Brother Correction.

 _What is this?_ She wondered, opening the note and reading what was written.

" _Don't reject her this time",_ she read. _"Despite the bad blood initially between you two, she's still your daughter and she needs her mother. You're not scientific experiments or expendable assets for some crazed man with impotence. You're people, too, and people need each other to survive."_

Once she saw that her Cloneblade wasn't on her wrist, Reina picked up her unconscious…daughter and carried her away.

-x-

"Aah!" Rie Nishida gasped, waking up in her car from what felt like a nightmare. "Aah…aah… I'm…I'm alive?"

She looked at the dashboard and saw a note stuck to it addressed to her. Reaching over and opening it, it was a message telling her, _"What happened to you was not a dream. You and others that have suffered the worst form of suffering have been given a second chance to avoid a similar fate before your time. The Witchblade is no longer worth going after. I saw to it myself so that nobody else will suffer because of it. Do something that will help the people."_

Someone or something had brought her back to life…and warned her that this was the only chance she would have to avoid a similar fate.

-x-

"I'm alive," said Yagi, reviving where he was killed by Masane, free of the Ultimate Blade that wasted him away. "I gotta get out of here."

He ran from the site and could only think of wanting to return home…and make a formal complaint towards Wado for using him the way he did.

-x-

Even though it went against his better judgment, Brother Correction brought back Tatsuoki Furumizu, as well, but granted him his sick desire in a twisted way; if he was going to bring cruel people back to life, he had to make sure they couldn't either get away with their crimes, harm others again or repeat their actions. But he didn't want anyone, including Furumizu, to know that he was alive, so he regressed him back to his twenties and removed most of his memories, permitting him a semblance of a clean slate to turn his life around.

 _He'd better appreciate his good fortune,_ he thought, seeing several former Neogene women walking around as they had been brought back to life, as well as he walked around. _Not many villains get the salvation that others receive._

"Hey, you," a woman's voice uttered to him, catching his attention, and he turned to face the former Dual Cloneblade Sister, Aoi. "I've seen you somewhere, haven't I?"

"I'm probably just one of those familiar faces," he tried to pass her assumption off.

"No, it can't be. Yes, I have seen you somewhere before (she approached him and looked him in the eye). You saved my life once. You saved Maria's, even Asagi's. You saved everyone's life. Thank you."

Somehow, she could see through him and knew exactly what he was. He couldn't deny that.

"Do you think me wrong for doing that?" He asked her.

"Actually, no," she answered. "If you gave Maria a second chance, I think you were in the right. But…what about the Witchblade?"

"A thing of the past. It was too corrupted and beyond any measure of control. Nobody will be able to find it for themselves to exploit or be hurt by its misuse ever again."

He then walked around her and further down the street, seeing over at an outdoor cafe a revived Asagi talking with a revived Shiori Tsuzuki, both removed of their Cloneblades and the latter woman her savage and carnal impulses; he left her personality intact due to the fact that he had no problems with people's sexual orientations so long as they eventually met someone they liked that reciprocated their affections in the same way they were expressed. However, to ensure Shiori had a clean slate herself, he removed most of her darker, violent memories of the time she possessed the Cloneblade she was bestowed upon.

 _I'd best see one more place before I call it a mistake made right,_ he thought, disappearing into a crowd of people.

-x-

Despite the various widespread confusion that settled in, many people saw the revived masses as an act of the gods, like whatever happened last night was a sign of good fortune yet to come. The sight of the whole megacity from atop the tip of Tokyo Tower made Brother Correction feel such elation at the varying degrees of happiness being expressed.

 _Even that policeman that committed suicide was granted a second chance to live again,_ he thought, looking at the bright sun and misshapen clouds. "Grr."

He was then reminded that his mortal vessel could only endure the searing wrath of the Witchblade for so long due to its corruption, and needed to do away with it soon. It was time to go away until he was needed to undo another mistake, but he would return.

-x-

"…I really like the new bracelet that man gave you, Mom," Riko told Masane as they ate breakfast together with Takayama and the others.

"Yeah, it's kinda growing on me, too," Masane agreed with her; she was relieved that when Brother Correction saved her life, he restored her sense of taste, as well, since the last meal she had with her daughter was one she couldn't taste at all.

"So…what now?" She asked Takayama.

"That is the question," he responded, for even he wasn't sure what was to happen.

-x-

Placed within a secured display case where it could be seen but never removed, the Witchblade was left by Brother Correction amongst his collection of various relics and items from other universes that were just too dangerous if left alone to be picked up by the next unlikely victim in order to degrade its corruption, however long that took…and then to just collect dust for the rest of eternity.

"The Angelus and Darkness can come after me if they feel their precious Balance has been disrespected for all I can care," he told himself as he returned to his throne of stone and wood. "Unless there's a way to settle this where it no longer scars women it chooses, there is no true way to resolve this beyond the way I choose to resolve it."

Sighing as he tilted his head back, he looked up at the sunny sky of his domain. It would be a while before the next mistake made itself known to him, but for now, he could foresee the future of the universe where the now Witchblade and Cloneblade-free Tokyo would move on without any further trouble…and Masane Amaha would be able to enjoy the rest of her.

"In the end, saving these lives is its own reward," he uttered, allowing himself a moment of rest.

Fin

A/N: Well, here it finally is. I apologize to those that expected something like this. With the impending arrival of the new year, I decided to try my best to finish and post this to the best of my abilities. May your new year be one of success, y'all. Peace.


End file.
